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Sunday, June 3, 2007

Bleach 126

Last we left, Captain Hitsugaya turned to see Momo, his childhood friend and Aizen’s betrayed lieutenant, on the big Soul Society computer screen. After a little banter, we get straight to the point, which is that Momo is still crazy about Aizen. In fact, she’s just plain crazy. She insists that the other renegade captains must have put him up to whatever it is that he’s doing and begs Hitsugaya not to kill him. The Captain-Commander puts Momo to sleep and abruptly ends the transmission. Hitsugaya makes a fist and curses Aizen’s name, which is about all he can do since last time Aizen stabbed him but good.

Our next scene suddenly shows Sado fighting Renji and his bankai. A flashback takes us into Urahara Kisuke’s modest little shop. Renji sits, wearing a “RED PINEAPPLE” shirt (can I have one?), and Kisuke approaches and asks him to train Sado, who is waiting outside. Renji refuses, but Kisuke says that, if Renji becomes his handyman for three months, then he’ll answer any question that Renji wants to ask him. Renji can’t resist this, so agrees to help train Sado as part of his handyman duties. One interesting tidbit we pick up through this painfully hilarious exchange is that Kisuke’s bankai isn’t useful at training people or lending them strength. So what good is it then? Killing, probably.

Back to the training. Sado runs around, trying to avoid Renji’s big snake-thing bankai. He’s really sort of overmatched, but Kisuke, watching, thinks that Sado surely has plenty of room to grow. He also ruminates that Sado’s power is unlike that of a shinigami or a Quincy. Kisuki thinks, “Your power is just like…” and doesn’t bother to finish the thought, that bastard. I want to know, although I have a good guess.

Next we see Ichigo training with Hiyori. She keeps kicking him the face, and the other Vizard comment that they seem to get along really well. I suppose if she were kicking him in the groin things would be different. Outside, Orihime has located the secret Vizard hideout. She notes the powerful shield, so effective at just eliminating the presence of the hideout that cats, birds, and ants all walk or fly around it like a big hole in the ground. Orihime goes up the shield and touches it and thinks that it reminds her of her own shield. She just pushes through.

In the underground hideout, Ichigo keeps training, and Hiyori keeps kicking him in the face. The other Vizard helpfully talk amongst themselves and say that Ichigo needs to train in order to keep his Hollow mask on for long periods of time. The big guy, Hachi, suddenly tenses up and says that someone has just slipped through his barrier. The other Vizard all gather around and watch as Orihime comes down the stairs. She says something cute about have to use the restroom, but then Ichigo crashes into the scene and all is well.

She tells Ichigo what’s going on with the Soul Society and the King’s Key and whatever. He’s nonplussed about it all, vowing simply to defeat Aizen because he can still get stronger. Orihime leaves, we see some Vizard wackiness, and then Orihime running away from the building. She doesn’t get very far, as that sexy master assassin Yoruichi appears. Kisuki wants to talk to Orihime. Maybe they’ll kiss on the way.

Our last scene finds Uryuu training in another underground room with his father. He’s pretty beat up, panting. His shirt is loose, which seems to be an important point to note. He still has some little silver tubes filled with spells, but he’s definitely on his last legs. His father refuses to let up, the bastard, and keeps firing arrows at his son. Dad, apparently, can fire multiple arrows at once, and can fire them at will, without the motion of drawing back the string from the bow and firing. This would be a pretty useful skill for Uryuu to pick up.

Uryuu tries one last attack, using his final silver tube to seal his father in a binding spell. The spell fails, and dad shoots Uryuu right through the chest with an arrow. Uryuu falls to the ground, and I’m sort of worried (“Is this the end for Zombie Uryuu?”) when his dad walks over. Force a former Quincy to his physical and mental limits, and hit him with an arrow in just the right place, and his powers will come back. Dad insults Uryuu some more, and I smile, satisfied that everything is going to be all right.